Land, Natural Resources, and Violent Conflict Presenter: Mark Freudenberger Best Practices for Land Tenure and Natural Resource Governance in Africa Monrovia, Liberia October 2012
Overview Land as a multi-dimensional resource Land and NRM conflict Vulnerabilities to conflict Land in the conflict cycle Triggers of Violent Conflict Ethnicity Migration Some best practices Take aways Case study: Sudan and Kenya Timor Leste 2
Land as a Multi-dimensional Resource Land is a Means of production, basis of livelihoods Asset for economic and social security Source of political power and revenue Source of identity, social status and a sense of ancestral belonging Deeply political and emotional topic as well as an economically important asset Land means different things to different actors, and is valued by them for quite different reasons. This is a source of conflict. 3 3
Conflict within Private Property Regimes 4
Conflict over Bundles of Rights 5
Conflicts between Property Rights Regimes 6
Nested conflicts D D Protected areas Conflict Intra Intracommunity tensions Inter-ethnic tensions Historical land claims Customary vs statutory tensions Failing land registry Political patronage networks Over-Centralised governance systems International legal frameworks 7
Vulnerabilities to land-related conflict What are some causes of landrelated conflict from your experience? Land scarcity: absolute, distributive, environmental Insecurity of tenure: fear of loss of land access and/or displacement Vulnerabilities are like kindling, and violence most often occurs when trigger events ignite the kindling. Grievance: long-standing resentments, often over earlier displacements 8
Triggers of violent conflict What triggers violent conflict from your experience? Displacement Events Drought Deforestation War and civil disorder Events Intensifying competition New markets, or other demands for land Technological change Land disputes Political Events Reforms allowing emergence of suppressed claims Failed states Political vacuums 9
Land and natural resources and large-scale conflict Left to fester, resource disputes end in violence 75% of conflicts since 1980s were in agrarian states with customary tenure Large-scale conflicts linked to grievances: MOTIVE High-profile resource disputes trigger violence: OPPORTUNITY Resources in war economy sustain violence: MEANS Photo Tetra Tech ARD 11
Post-conflict disputes Common issues in postconflict disputes: Overlapping rights and claims Lack of relevant land/ NRM policies Dysfunctional land administration Land grabbing/encroachment Calls for compensation Photo: Tetra Tech ARD Ambiguous, controversial or unenforceable laws 12
Ethnicity and land conflict Ethnicity has played a key role in conflicts Specific conflicting claims to land/resources become a focus for discontent, polarizing groups As group identities become fixed through media portrayals, there is a risk of politicization, especially by conflict entrepreneurs Disputes often accelerate the growth of tensions and trigger violence 13
Case Study: Lamu Port and Lamu Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) Sudan Early Independence Period: Strong legal recognition for private land rights along the Nile and for customary rights elsewhere. Post 1970: Socialist government withdraws recognition of private and customary rights. Elites grabbed land through assignment of extensive leaseholds from the state. Pre-Independence Southern Sudan: Undermining of custom followed by state imposition of Islamic law on largely non- Islamic populations. Restoration of custom became a rallying cry in the struggle for independence. Independent Southern Sudan: Currently struggling to find the right balance between state and customary interests in land, while dealing with smoldering conflict over land in the oil-rich regions along its border with Sudan. 14
The Project: Export oil from Southern Sudan through Kenya Project: $23 billion investment in oil pipeline, railway and motorway linking South Sudan to Indian Ocean coast at Lamu, Kenya Railway and Road Corridor: Juba to Lamu, a distance of 1720 km. Link to Ethiopia expected. 15 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19748523
The Lamu/Manda Port The plan Oil refinery 32 berth port Railway terminus Road terminus International airport New city www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=856442&page=16 International financing: Trading oil for infrastructures? 16
Lamu Port Development Environmental and Social Impacts? 17
Impacts on Land Tenure and Conflict in Lamu Districts Land values rapidly increasing leading to Rampant land speculation Large-scale land acquisition by national elites Intra- and Interhousehold disputes over land sales Indigenous rights claims between ethnic groups 18 Threat of violence is real!
Land in the conflict cycle Conflict over land resurfaces in new forms, sometimes with new players. Land is a structural cause of conflict: Disputes over land can become a trigger of violent conflict. Land sustains conflict: Land of high-value sustains insurgencies and warring factions. Warring parties often compete for control of that land and its resources. Land and post-conflict: Prior competitions for land may remain unresolved. Restitution to returnees can spark new conflict, and land grabbing by new elites is not unusual. The Sad Truth 40% of conflicts which have ended restart within ten years (Huggins). Underlying root causes of conflict must be addressed to arrive at lasting peace and stability. Otherwise, conflicts fester but are expressed through many forms of passive and active resistance. 19
Case Study of Best Practice: Timor Leste 20
Timor Leste Land Tenure Challenges History of Violence and Forced Relocation Portuguese colonial period relocation policy for agricultural projects (coffee, sandalwood) Indonesian Transmigration program: relocation of Indonesians into Timor-Leste and reshuffling of villages within Timor-Leste Multiple Tenure Regimes Portuguese colonial era titles Indonesian titles UNTAET permits GoTL titles Customary tenure rights Displacement by civil war in 1975 (pre-decolonization) 21
Land Tenure Disputes The Common Challenges Land Dispute Dynamics Displacement, secondary occupancy, illegitimate sale, lack of transaction records, statutory v. customary law, overlapping titles form past property regimes Limited Land Administration Capacity Lack of qualified local lawyers, judges, surveyors, registrars, drafters and policy specialists Land registry still under development Lack of appropriate legal framework 22
USAID Property Rights in Timor Leste (SPRTL) Central Feature: Registering and Mediating Property Rights Claims Three person field teams (team leader, land dispute resolution specialist, and mapper) involved in a claims process free of charge to participants and decentralized. Results: Proto land registry in place over 50,000 claims/2,000 transactions recorded Land bill approved by Parliament, awaits promulgation Land decree already in force allows for issuance of ownership titles (in undisputed cases) Low levels of recorded land disputes (10%) diminished fear factor ; Only 5-7% of cases have gone into the formal dispute resolution process. Increasing Government of Timor Leste, civil society buy-in and understanding of complex land issues Strong support by government to promote gender equality 23
A best practice case study: Timor-Leste Timor-Leste provides an example of land conflict mitigation in a post-conflict context, in the absence initially of clear policy and law. In 2007 USAID launched project focused on policy/law reform, communications and consultations, land dispute resolution, creation of National Land Commission. The policy/law reform and institutional work has lagged, but the public education program has been creative and effective, and the land dispute resolution activity has achieved impressive results. 24
Conflict Mitigation and/or resolution? Fire-fighting (ad-hoc commissions, dispute mediations by NGOs, etc.) can play a vital role in building peace in the short term. But national commitment to redress injustices may also be required. Return to status quo may mean an eventual return to violence. Outsiders need to both support and challenge government to reform. External actors can only facilitate sustainable change, not force it. Weapons of the weak expressed through fire a sign of resistance with underlying roots in unresolved conflicts 25
Take Away Messages Land and natural resources have multiple meanings for different actors Contested governance of land and natural resources is a major source of conflict Conflict is rarely local : look for connections Environmental fluctuations and long-term changes make governance more challenging Improving governance of resources can reduce conflict, secure livelihoods, and protect the environment 26